In just a few short weeks, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy will land in cinemas, and it’s safe to say that everyone who grew up with the frazzled Brit is very excited. Renée Zellweger is reprising the iconic role for the fourth time after almost a decade, and although Colin Firth won’t be back to play Mark Darcy (sob), we will see Hugh Grant returning as Daniel Cleaver and One Day star Leo Woodall is making his Bridgetverse debut.
And while the plot has been a huge point of interest for fans (with Hugh claiming it’s going to be ‘very sad’), in an interview with Vogue Renée opened up about the secret undercover job she took ahead of filming in order to prepare for the role. For context, before the first film’s release in 2001, Renée got a job at publishing house Picador as a means of method acting, to perfect her British accent and immerse herself in the culture. Under an alias, she explained that none of her colleagues even realised she was a Hollywood star.
Speaking with Hugh as part of the interview, he asked: “How did Bridget come about for you?”
In response, Renée said: “There was a hullabaloo at the time. ‘Oh, we can’t have an American playing this British icon.’ I remember that… I became aware of it when I worked at Picador. I was ‘Bridget Cavendish’ because Jonathan Cavendish, the film’s producer, was very good friends with the gentleman who was the editor of Picador.”
Expanding on her secret job in publishing, she said: “Part of my job was to take the newspaper clippings from the daily papers and file them under Helen Fielding’s file, as they represented her. And I started having to clip these articles about this ‘crap American actor’ who was set to play Bridget Jones.”
When Hugh pointed out that she was already ‘well known then’, Renée insisted that ‘nobody knew’ she was undercover. She said: “Maybe I was out of context… It was odd. One of the ladies who worked in the office was reading the Anna Quindlen novel One True Thing, and they made a film out of it [that I starred in], so I’m on the cover of the book. And she’s there telling me about having finished it on the Tube on the way to work and how marvellous it was.”
Talk about commitment to the role!
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is due to land in UK cinemas on February 14th.